There are only nine U.S. Supreme Court justices. On Thursday, one of them will come to the River Valley.

For the first time a sitting United States Supreme Court Judge spoke in Fort Smith.

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More than 2,500 hundred people packed inside the Fort Smith Convention Center to hear Justice Antonin Scalia speak. Scalia was appointed by President Reagan and was confirmed in 1986. He is currently the longest serving justice on the Supreme Court.

Justice Scalia did not hold back on sharing his opinions, telling the crowd that he was an originalist, and he believes the constitution has the same meaning today as it did when it was adopted more than 225 years ago.

After his speech Justice Scalia answered questions from the crowd. The first question was from freshman Ateya Wright who attends Kimmons Jr. High School.

"How do you cope with knowing you have to interpret the constitution," asked Wright.

Justice Scalia replied that "it's not that hard."

He told the crowd that the United States Supreme court may be the highest court in the land, but that State Courts have the most impact on our lives. Scalia cited crimes, land disputes, and family matters as examples that are dealt with daily in our state court systems.

"I think it sells kids short when we assume they can't relate to this sort of thing and Justice Scalia Spoke to them," said Krista Mays who brought her two children to hear Justice Scalia speak.

"I thought it was really fun and I learned a lot," said Dana Mays who is 11 years old.

The group trying to build the United States Marshals Museum in Fort Smith brought Justice Scalia to our area.

"What a great honor for this community," said Bennie Westphal, who's family is donating the land where the Marshals Museum will be built along Riverfront Drive, next to the Arkansas River.

"It shows how important this Marshals Museum is to our country at large," said Westphal.

"He was a huge proponent of law enforcement," said William Rockefeller, son of the late Lt. Governor Winthrop Rockefeller. He says his father would be proud to help and support the U.S. Marshals Museum. "One of the things that most people don't know is that he served as, on the Marshals Foundation Board," said William.

This was the first of three Winthrop P. Rockefeller Distinguished Lecture Series. There will be 2 more in the next 2 years.

Right now those speakers have not been announced but, according to the U.S. Marshals Museum they will be from the executive and legislative branches of the U.S. government and the speakers will be in Fort Smith to talk about the U.S. Marshals’ history to each branch of government.

After speaking for nearly an hour Justice Scalia autographed copies of his two books that were available for purchase.